The blog contains articles by the author which appear in various newspapers in Kashmir and are also available on the website: www.kashmirfirst.com

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Kashmir’s Political Vultures!

The so called “leaders” of Kashmir have always behaved like vultures
waiting one upon the other to feed on the dead bodies of the innocent
Kashmiris!

A
general observation made by most of the Kashmir watchers is that there has so
far been no sincere and upright leader who could lead the people to salvation. Since
1586 the country of Kashmir has been under the occupation of outsiders who took
turns in capturing it one after the other. After Mughals came the Afghans. Then
came the Sikhs and finally, the Dogras purchased it from the British for a
paltry sum of rupees seventy five lakhs along with its inhabitants. All the
foreign rulers oppressed the local population so much that they ultimately
became serfs without any self-respect and dignity.

In
the early part of the last century there was general awakening for freedom in
the entire Indian sub-continent. Kashmiris too felt an urge to end their
centuries old oppression. The movement grew slowly among the educated class and
received a fillip in 1931 when 21 Kashmiris were gunned down near the Central
Jail where trial of one Abdul Qadir was going on. He had been charged with
sedition for making inflammatory speeches exhorting people to rise against the
Dogra Rule. This movement threw up the tallest leader Kashmir has seen in the
recent times, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

People
virtually worshipped Sheikh Abdullah as they took him to be the Messiah who had
been born in Kashmir after centuries of slavery. However, he did not turn out
to be the one for whom Kashmiris had been waiting for ages. He virtually led
them from pillar to the post and made many somersaults. Finally he passed away
leaving his people in the lurch ruled by his dynastic successors. Sheikh
Abdullah’s behavior ultimately gave birth to a generation of collaborators who
in the real sense proved to be political vultures living on the dead bodies of Kashmiris.
Bakshis, Sadiqs, Qasims and Muftis were the names of these vultures that were
waiting in a queue to pounce on the dead bodies of Kashmiris. Because of them
the ultimate emancipation which the people had been longing for centuries, has
so far eluded them!

Unfortunately,
the alternate leadership called the “popular” leaders too have failed the
people. They started with a program for the final emancipation of the people
but failed to put before the people a concrete goal as well as the road map to
the final goal. The only programs they could give were endless shutdowns. In
the meantime, because of the continued suppression, the new generation of the
nineties of the last century got totally frustrated and alienated. Apart from
the fact that they grew up in the worst turmoil and violence seen in Kashmir
during last 70 years, they were continuously subjected to harassment by the
security forces. The Burhan phenomenon too was a result of this harsh and
brutal harassment. It had become a regular trade for some of the security
agencies to pick up youth at random in the guise of containing militancy and
then releasing these after huge pay offs!

The
results of this suppression manifested in the person of Burhan Wani who
demonstrated that the oppressive forces could be resisted. His death gave rise
to an unprecedented uprising by the “Burhan Generation” which Indian
authorities have miserably failed to suppress in spite of the use of brutal
force. There has been a continuous tirade from the media and politicians about
Pakistan sponsored violence in Kashmir. In fact, the Pakistanis themselves have
been taken by surprise by the vehemence of this peaceful mass uprising.
Notwithstanding the display of some Pakistani flags, the bulk of the people
have been asking for “Azadi”, the total and absolute freedom. The brutal
suppression of these peaceful public meetings and marches has resulted in 87
deaths, more than 20,000 injured and hundreds with eye injuries with a large
number losing eyesight permanently. More than 2,000 young boys have been
arrested and some have been detained under the notorious Public Safety Act. The
forces have not only been dispersing peaceful gatherings with extreme harshness
but have also been vandalizing the residences of the people and beating the
inmates to frighten them. All over Kashmir forces have gone into the villages,
beaten the inmates, looted their valuables and damaged their household goods
just to cow them down. According to some press reports, the government has
handed over the four districts of South Kashmir to Army for quelling these
protest marches and public meetings. The Army is conducting what has been
called “Operation Calm Down” to contain the protests! It is simply to over awe
the population by show of force. A virtual war against own citizens!

The
peak of atrocities was a total clamp down on the most important Muslim Festival
of Eid-ul-Adah. This has never happened in the entire recorded history of
Kashmir! With all this mayhem going
around, the so called mainstream leaders except shouting loudly are not taking
any positive action. There is only one exception of Tariq Hamid Kara who has
resigned from the Indian Parliament and also from the basic membership of the
PDP. He is one of the founders of the party. In his case also it took 80 deaths
and all the mayhem before his conscience pricked him! The others are just
sulking and tweeting only! It is here
that one can see the true nature of these “Political Vultures” of the so called
mainstream. Had they been truly of the people and from the people, seeing the
mayhem, they would have all resigned by now. On the contrary, they are waiting
for the “Vulture” sitting on the thrown to fall so that they can take over and
start eating the flesh of dying Kashmiris! Throughout their entire career they
have never truly worked for any solution for the true and real emancipation of
Kashmiris! The present wave of the unrest is totally leaderless. It is truly a
mass revolution which none of the so called leaders from either side are truly
able to handle. No one knows where this mayhem unleashed by the people who had
been propagating a “Healing Touch” to the suffering Kashmiris will end? A vale
full of dead bodies for the “Political Vultures” or a real and final nemesis to
these “Vultures”!